Slipping
by NonConRoxas
Summary: The average person would turn in a package of drugs that randomly arrived at their house but Axel wasn't as sane as the average person. Armed with a DVD, a coin and the product he takes his first dive into Acidic Compounds 101. Little did he know that as he watched the DVD and let the drugs take over that he was part of an even bigger reality than he could ever imagine.


_Thank you for enrolling in Acidic compounds 101. If you're just watching this video now I am going to assume that this is your first time tripping with us and will gladly instruct you on your do's and don'ts for a safe and eventful trip._

_Please select from one of the many listed compounds below. If your enclosed substance is not on the list than please return the package with all its contained items and place it back in your mailbox._

_1)Acidic Compounds-Acid/Lsd_

_2)Natures Launch Pad-Salvia_

_3)Robotic Activities-DXM_

_4)Holy shit where did these cats come from?-DPH_

_5)Ball of kittens.-Ketamine._

_6)Universe Exploring-DMT_

Axel glanced back to the manila envelope that he had come across in the mail that littered the kitchen table when he came from 'school' the previous day. His name was scrawled directly across the front of his package in messy handwriting.

The DVD was the first thing he had pulled from the package but that was already whirling around inside the CD drive of his laptop. The second thing he pulled out had been a small vial of what looked to be ground up or dusty powder. Perhaps chopped up bits of something. Around the vial was a thin green band that held the small white piece of paper that was wrapped around it in place. Pointless words littered the small paper and after determining that it was of no used to him he discarded it off the side of the bed and slide his hand back into the yellow envelope that sat beside him making sure that there wasn't anything he was missing. Fingertips slid against a small coin about the size of a quarter that seemed to be engraved with words or patterns. Sliding it out he held it up to the light, the word _Salvia_ taking up one side while a fractal horse sat on the other.

It felt like his gut had just taken a plunge off a three hundred foot cliff with no water below as soon as he clicked the second choice on the screen. _Salvia_. He had heard of the drug before but had never gotten the chance to try it; weed and Acid being his demon of choice with the occasional drinking binge.

To the average person taking drugs that came in discrete packaging with an instructional DVD would of set off a red alarm that this wasn't sane, but hey, Axel was never one to listen to instinct. Too many Friday night games of 'Drink till you get fucked up' turned into two night binges of 'What the fuck am doing here and what is this stuff that is in my cup.' He was heading down a bad path and this stuff would hopefully help him forget that little fact for just a bit or at least he hoped.

_So I see that Salvia is the one you received. Not our highest potency supply but pretty good for a first time customer, wouldn't you say. We suggest smoking this extract from a bowl or a joint of your choice. We will give you two minutes to drop your desired amount into the poison of choice and while we wait please enjoy the playing of two kittens on the screen._

As the DVD instructed he grabbed his rolling papers and popped the cap from the glass vial, the small chunks of extract that overflowed landing in his cupped palm. Dumping what he assumed to be the right amount onto the papers he began to roll with skilled fingers, his bowl of weed already set up next to him for a precursor. He finished before the strange accented voice from the DVD continued and decided to take the extra time to take a hit, kittens rolling over each other providing him with an amusing image.

_Time is up kiddos and now that you have the Salvia packed and or rolled it's time to give you a few pointers. Expect to become objects and to travel dimensions. Everything around you is real and what you experience is real. It may not exist in your realm but in ours anything is possible. Soon you will come to realize this but for now take a deep breath and prepare yourself. Light up when ready. We'll be with you the whole time._

A few more strong hits from his pre packed bowl gave him enough false confidence to lift the carefully wrapped joint to his lips and spark the tip, smoke not being fully inhaled just yet. He felt a tingling travel throughout his fingertips and down his arms, skin on fire with tiny pressure plates of nothing. Everything was pricked all at once.

Before his next full hit he let emerald eyes fall upon the spinning circle that held its place at the center of his laptop screen. The DVD wasn't loading, it was there for a reason and the voice in the back of his head wanted to question it but was held back from the small amount of chemicals he had already breathed in. He never expected a hit that small to hit him so quick but once again this was his first time trying Salvia and he didn't know that to expect.

The soft hum from the CD drive was his only distraction as he brought the paper back up to his lips and lit the tip once more, a deep inhale proving already almost too much for him to handle as he held it in and counted to twenty before exhaling.

The spinning circle zoomed out of focus on the screen as the soft hum became his everything. The sound was too much and not enough as all the objects in his room began to hum like the drive. With shaking fingers Axel brought the joint back up to his lips and pressed them tightly against the papers, inhaling one last deep hit but before he could even hold it in his lungs became spongy blocks of nothing, collapsing and forcing the smoke to immediately evacuate from his body.

He was falling backwards, time slowing down to a pinpoint drop in a silent room that echoed for hours. Clothing melted into his skin, his brain not able to process reality as something else overtook him as back hit bed.

_There now, let us caress you from the inside out. Shh, don't fight. We know what you're thinking. 'This isn't okay.' But yes it is. This is so right that you can't come to realize it just yet._

Distant voices bombarded his ears as nothing in the room sounded off. He couldn't tell if it was just his brain short circuiting from the drugs or if someone was actually speaking comforting words to him. Axel was everything and nothing all at one. There was a point to life and he was it. The objects in his room combined into equal energy forces and they had a purpose. He had a purpose and it was right in front of him.

He could touch it. Taste it. With arms extended above him his fingers grasped nothing but felt the tug of something other worldly.

_There we go, reach for it. You're so close but yet too far to do anything about it. They need you. /He/ needs you. Reach. Pull yourself from reality and let go. Sink._

And sink is exactly what his did as his bed enveloped him in a suffocating embrace. Lights fractured, his eyes closed but everything was still multiplying as if they were being reflected in between a set of mirrors and he couldn't think straight. There was a face in between the fractures. He knew there was but his mind couldn't make sense of it. Thoughts cut short and scattered about like seeds in the wind as his brain tried to catch them with no avail. He was blasted.

_And we're out._

Everything faded to black.

.-.-.-.-.

Converse clad feet skidded to a halt as the overly tall redhead grabbed onto the bus stop sign, the frozen pole almost tearing the skin from his hand as he held his place and caught his balance. The blue city bus rounded the street corner that was adjacent to the one he was currently positioned. Fuck, he had missed it again and he had no one to blame but himself.

With a defeated sigh and a rumble from his unfed stomach shaking fingers pulled the sleeves of an overly large hoodie down below his palms, fingertips curling in the fabric for warmth as he took a sit on the snow dusted bench that some dumbshit had decided didn't need to be placed under the overhang that was directly behind it. Even he, a high school drop out, had enough common sense to not place it just out of reach of shelter.

Chilled wind bit at the redhead's cheeks causing them to turn a bright pink, eyes squinting almost shut to block out the cold. The short puff of air that escaped his mouth in the form of an angered sigh was enough to let anyone passing by know not to fuck with him. Their eyes said it all. They pitied him. The ones who passed saw him at the same bus stop almost every day dressed in less than adequate clothing for the weather.

_Fuck them and their critical analyzing bullshit. One day I hope they get judged for waiting for a god damn bus. _

A quick check at his phone told him he had at least another 20 minutes before the bus would swing back around and that wasn't accounting for the delays it would encounter due to the snow and slippery roads. It wasn't like he needed to get back home right away anyway. Nothing was waiting for him there. No one would be home anyway.

His mother, a woman whom always viewed herself higher than any other, had found herself a new boyfriend to pamper and let her escape from the shitty run down shack they called a house. To her Axel had been an even bigger disappointment than his father; a man who had run off with her former best friend from the age of six only seven months into the pregnancy. At least he had the decency to send the child support he owed them. Maybe not on time but it was always a steady source of income for him to count on. Jobs were never really his thing.

"Are you waiting for anyone?"

Emerald eyes shot up instantly at the sound of another's voice, hands quickly moving the bag that he laid next to him on the seat to his lap for the stranger that was looking at him with the bluest eyes he had ever saw.

"Excuse me?" Was all he could muster out in, his voice stuttering like a nervous child being accused of something he was obviously guilty for. His throat closed up for a second, a nervous twitch of his eye probably giving it up that he was on something.

"You look like you're waiting on someone. I'm not sure who but one would assume they are important." The blue eyed stranger said voice as clear as bells on a Sunday morning. Most of his face was obstructed from sight by the collar of his pea coat, a scarf wrapped tightly around his neck. Small tufts of blonde poked out from underneath his beanie. "And if not I'm sorry for assuming."

It took the teen a few seconds to process what the child had said, eyes studying the kids face before responding. "I'm not important enough to have anyone be coming to see me so feel free to have a seat. I moved my bag for you. Wouldn't want a kid like you having to stand while waiting for the bus."

Shaking his head the blond smiled and shuffled his feet against the ground, eyes trained on the small piles of while he was creating. "No, it certainly seems that someone is coming to see you and I wouldn't want to impose. Sorry for my rude intrusion and assumption but I should be going now."

With those words the blond turned on his heels and walked off in the direction Axel assumed he came from, the older teen about ready to get up and follow him to inquire about his weird statement but the bus rolled to a stop in front of the sign. He was too overjoyed to get out of the freezing cold to question why it was nearly fifteen minutes early. Doors opened with a warm blast of heat and Axel instantly forgot the strange kid, the pure joy of heat being the only thing on his mind.

_One more step in the right direction. The wheels are turning._


End file.
